I’m angry at Mitchum. Yep. The deodorant people.

Not because I use their deodorant. I don’t. It’s way too manly for me.

I’m angry at Mitchum because they are glorifying the Puritanical work ethic with a new contest that they have, The Hardest Working _______ in America. They ask people to submit videos of themselves working super hard. You might be the hardest working cattle rancher, baker, coach, florist, physical therapist. These don’t even have to be physical laborers. For example, they include a woman who’s a web entrepreneur.

I believe it’s possible to get creative and work smarter and enjoy your life and livelihood much, much more. And I’ll share some ideas about doing that so that you get to imagine them for yourself. But please, if you take anything away from what I’m sharing, it’s that you do not have to kill yourself at work.

So really: What is so right and so virtuous about working so hard? Granted, some of the people that Mitchum’s showing clearly love their work. And I applaud that. But not at the expense of overall well-being. Too many hours at work is just plain draining. In Mitchum’s contest, some of the participants clearly look like they are “slugging it out.” Many of the people they show in their promotional video must be working so hard that they have no time for exercise, because they are quite overweight. Sorry, but that’s no good for your body, mind, or spirit. Can all of these folks truly be happy? I doubt it.

Why must we glorify knocking ourselves out at work? Americans seem to have an obsession with working hard, demonstrating our strength, and just plain working our noses to the grindstone and running ourselves into the ground.

I know a thing or two about pushing myself to work hard. Back in the mid 1990s, I was a management consultant. My colleagues and I seemed to think that it was completely normal to work 80 hours a week. I was expected to bill a minimum of 50 hours each week. So when I worked 100 hour work weeks, which did on occasion, I’d be exhausted, but it was like I earned a badge of courage. Secretly, I was downright ecstatic when I only had to work 60 hours a week, but I also felt guilty, like I wasn’t contributing my share.

Rare was the day at work when my shoulders did not ache. I simply attributed that pain to sitting at the computer for six to ten hours a day.  Nausea and digestive pains were my frequent companions, and their impact seemed more forceful when I was staffed on a project out of town.  At the time, I simply rationalized the intestinal aches away by assuming they were caused by eating hotel and restaurant food, instead of my own home-cooked meals.


About three years into my time in management consulting, I was involved in a car accident. As I drove home from San Francisco International Airport, returning from a client engagement in Southern California, I was rear-ended by a drunk driver.  Although the accident was not serious, I started getting painful migraine headaches immediately afterwards.  My doctor wanted to run diagnostic tests, but I would not allow it.  I was determined to show how tough I could be.  I was not going to let mere headaches keep me from working on what I thought was an extremely important client project, one that seemed to assure me a promotion!  Then, two weeks after the car accident, I passed out in front of a group of clients.  The pain in my head was overwhelming, so I literally fainted while making a presentation. The project team took me to the hospital to check my health.

I ignored the migraine symptoms, continuing to push through them so that I secure a promotion, even if I was conflicted about moving ahead at the firm.  To my project team and to myself, I pretended. I acted as if I was fine.  Fortunately, when I received a doctor’s orders to take a month off from work to relax and recuperate, the managing partner of my office insisted that I follow his professional guidance.

Deep down, I felt torn. On the one hand, I wanted to demonstrate to my project team that I was as strong as everyone else, and that I could fit into the workaholic culture by continuing to work.  Yet on the other hand, I also wished I could simply find work that was more fun, or that I could even stop working for a period.

I ultimately took the medical leave, and I’m so thankful I did. I got back in touch with my body. I got clear that I wanted to work less and enjoy more. And since then, I’ve always found ways to do that, including ways that make plenty of money, thank goodness.

So, how do YOU do work that fits, and not knock yourself out in the process?

(1) Talk to people who are doing work that they love. Ask them what they love about their work. Ask them how they got into it. Listen to their journey. Almost no one goes from frustration to freedom overnight. It’s a process. Find out how people talk to themselves, how they overcame obstacles, how they motivated themselves. Take what works for you and leave the rest.

(2) Read Tim Ferris’ book, The Four Hour Work Week. This book is a game changer. It sounds absurd, especially if you’ve been working more than 40 hours a week. But stick with it. He has great ideas for how to make work as much fun and easy as possible. He has ideas both for making your current job easier, and for launching a product that you can sit back and watch make money. Ah, passive income!

(3) Read a recent article from Bloomberg/Businessweek about Working on the Waterfront. Yes, people really do work at the beach. If a serious business publication is giving you ideas on how to get a tan while you work, why not investigate? Or do you really want to sit in your cubicle day after day, turning pastier white by the second?

Seriously, though, I’m committed to helping people find ease, engagement, and enrichment from their work. What are YOU going to do to find those qualities in your work?

Working well,

Susan

It’s no fun to feel stuck in work you hate.

But there’s always a way out. Always. It just may not be what you envisioned. But sometimes, you have an inkling of it.

That’s the case for my former client, Marie-Florence Tieu, who, after completing her MBA, took a job in search engine marketing. And she felt bored, unfulfilled, and frustrated. While that’s obviously  not the only job for MBAs, something was nagging her on the inside. She couldn’t figure out what she wanted to do next, but search engine marketing wasn’t it. She went to career coaches who gave her assessments and tests. And those only confused or frustrated her.

Marie-Florence ran into a common shift that makes it so much easier to find or create work that fits. If you want work that truly fits you, that feels really congruent with who you are and what you care about, you can’t figure it out. You need to feel it out.

In the face of uncertainty, most of us go into mental overdrive, trying to get our logical brains to frame their quest for a new job as a problem. Then, they try to analyze the situation and end up with an elegant solution. Only there’s not really a problem. Or there’s nothing really to solve. I recommend a focus on intentions instead. In other words, that you get clear about what you do want, rather than focusing on the problem of work that doesn’t fit, or in asking yourself, “How will I figure out what to do next?” That approach relies way, way too much on your head. Most of us have wily, crafty brains. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. It’s just that we miss out on listening to our hearts. And our guts. And the wisdom that lies below our necks.

You wouldn’t choose your spouse by reading their resume, would you? Not if you wanted to have a passion-filled relationship. Then why do you think that you can lay out the facts about your talents, and somehow come up with a picture that uplifts and inspires you? If that’s what you’re trying to do, I’m here to suggest that you turn the equation around. Start with what uplifts and inspires you, and then lay out how you’ll get there. Or, better yet, create a vision of what you want, take one step at a time towards it, and see what you discover.

But don’t try to have the whole career change mapped out all at once. Don’t. That’s not only a headache. That’s not only unrealistic. That’s not only hard. That’s impossible.  Yet too many people think that’s what they need to do, which creates unnecessary turmoil.

In our work together, Marie-Florence discovered how to “take the elevator down,” as I call it, moving from the head to the heart, gut, and whole-bodied wisdom. Too often, we suffer through work that drains us, with the hope that it will get better. And we mentally convince ourselves to stay and stay and stay…until we move from stress to burnout. And then we feel stuck. Yuck.

When she learned to listen to her body’s signals, Marie Florence got clear about work she wanted to do. It’s almost like it was in her bones. Even as a child, she cared for people, like her brother, who is mentally handicapped and autistic. She explored a few potential paths, including teaching tennis, but ultimately got totally excited at the thought of going to nursing school and becoming a nurse. She’s completing her prerequisites now, and will attend UCSF for nursing school starting June 21st!

I briefly interviewed Marie-Florence about her transition from marketing to nursing. If you’re considering a shift in your career, you may find her story, in the recording below, enlightening and inspiring. And you may get an idea of why learning to “work from within,” and trusting the innate instincts and impulses in your body is so vital to making positive change.

Click here to listen to the recording of my interview with Marie-Florence.

Celebrating change,
Susan

PS – In this posting, I’ve shared one of seven shifts to work that fits: If you want work that truly fits you, that feels really congruent with who you are and what you care about, you can’t figure it out. You need to feel it out. If you want to discover HOW to make this shift in your own career, and learn six other shifts that will help you have work that fits, please join me on Wednesday, July 7, from 6:00 – 7:30 pm Pacific (9:00 – 10:30 Eastern) for an interactive webinar “Seven Shifts to Work That Fits.“  You’ll also get a workbook, time for Q & A, and a video recording of the webinar that you can download and watch again and again, whenever you like.

There’s only room for 24 participants, and those places will get snatched up quickly…so grab your space by registering now. Isn’t it time you had work that fits you?

On April 30, I posted a video on YouTube as part of a contest sponsored by Hay House, the publishing house started by Louise Hay, who is especially known for her affirmations and her new book, Experience Your Good Now. Hay House offers a workshop called Movers & Shakers (the next one is coming up in Toronto in September), for people who want to build a multimedia platform to bring your message to the world – like I am doing. The workshop features best-selling author and coach Cheryl Richardson and Hay House CEO Reid Tracy discussing what it really takes to create your message, get it out to the world, and do it with integrity and grace.

One of the most important things I learned at the workshop: This journey to being a mover and a shaker takes patience. That’s important for me, because I’m prone to push, push, push myself and then get discouraged when I don’t get the outcomes I desire. Cheryl didn’t sugar-coat her journey to becoming an award-winning, coach, speaker, and radio host. She told stories of her frustrations and fears, as well as her triumphs. This balanced approach helped me to put my own experiences into a more positive light. I also made some fantastic new friends as a result of the workshop, and that alone was worth the price of admission!

Well, let me get the the big story:  I  am thrilled to have been selected as one of two Movers & Shakers from the March, 2010 Movers & Shakers workshop in San Francisco. The other winner is the amazing vocal coach, David Coury. As a winner, David will host a live online event and my prize: I’ll be hosting a radio show with Hay House Radio in the Fall.

Being selected to host the radio show is truly a dream come true. As a kid, I used to imagine that when I grew up, I could be like Lucy on Peanuts, and have my sign with “The Doctor Is In.” I envisioned people coming to me with their problems, but everyday issues, rather than issues of massive depression and overwhelming anxiety and the like (we all experience those at times).

My favorite times as a coach are when people come to me with thorny career issues, and I help them break through their own barriers. It’s gratifying to watch them embrace positive next steps in high-speed yet heartfelt fashion. That doesn’t always mean a “quick fix,” but it does mean rapid relief and the intention to lead with heart, and let the mind serve the heart, rather than the other way around. So, all in all, I’m very much looking forward to hosting the radio show and taking your calls about crafting your career in a way that maximizes your ROLE, your Return On Life Energy.

I invite you to watch my video entry, and also to watch some of the other San Francisco entries to the Hay House contest, as well. Many of them have important messages from other Movers and Shakers.

I would love for my good news to prompt YOU to take positive action to maximize your ROLE. So let me ask you a question: What is it that you’ve been wanting to do for a long time, but haven’t started on? Something that you dream about, that really lights you up? Instead of trying to figure out the path to getting there, I want to suggest something daring:  Let your head go! Yep, stop spinning in your mind about the “right” thing to do. Quit trying to plan step #38.

Instead, listen to your heart. Ask your heart” What’s one small, small step that I could take toward my dream?” Give yourself a dose of love, and then listen with compassion to what your heart tells you. Perhaps it’s signing up for a class. Maybe you’ll want to call a friend for support. Possibly it’s writing your dream in a journal and seeing what new information emerges. These are just a few suggestions. You’ve got your own wisdom within you. So, “work from within,” and listen inside yourself for your own next step, the next place to dip a toe in the water, to take a leap of faith, to run after what you desire, to reach for what you want.

As I see it, dreams are your spirit’s way of communicating what you truly desire. Don’t discount them. Ever! Nurture and feed them, which means shining the light of loving care on yourself. This is part of the journey of being a Mover & Shaker.

Here’s to your dreams!

Susan

A poem touched me so deeply last week, sent by my friend, the amazing massage therapist Hana Levin, who runs Melt Massage in Oakland, California. Her gifted hands can massage you for up to four hours! Can you imagine a four-hour massage?

To me, these words are a reminder to be easy and compassionate with yourself. In our push, push, push world, sometimes that thrusting forward motion just grows tiresome. Recently, I found myself utterly exhausted, empty of energy. I realized that like everyone else, I am vulnerable to overdoing it. These wise words helped give me permission to take it easy, to rest and renew.

So let me pass along this beautiful poem. May it uplift and inspire you…

If You Would Grow – Shine The Light Of Loving Self-Care On Yourself

If you would grow to your best self
Be patient, not demanding
Accepting, not condemning
Nurturing, not withholding
Self-marveling, not belittling
Gently guiding, not pushing and punishing
For you are more sensitive than you know
Mankind is as tough as war yet delicate as flowers
We can endure agonies but we open fully only to warmth and light
And our need to grow is as fragile as a fragrance Dispersed by storms of will
To return only when those storms are still
So, accept, respect, attend your sensitivity
A flower cannot be opened with a hammer.
- Daniel F. Mead

Keep shining the light of loving self-care on yourself!

Susan

I’m thrilled to introduce you to Maddy Dychtwald, my guest blogger for this post. Maddy is a nationally recognized author, demographer, public speaker and entrepreneur.  She has spent nearly twenty-five years deeply involved in exploring and forecasting demographic, lifestyle and consumer marketing trends.

Maddy’s new book, Influence: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better, is being released today, May 4. If you care about transforming the world through more feminine energies, I absolutely recommend this book! It’s a powerful argument, based on changes in our world, that shows the ways that women are making positive impacts. It includes stories of women who have big visions and big hearts. I was very fortunate to read an advance copy and was dazzled to find women I truly admire, such as Priya Haji of World of Good, and Deborah Szekely of The Golden Door and Rancho La Puerta, profiled for their visions and values.

So, here’s what Maddy’s shared with you:

It’s a curious thing, how a change so massive can still take us by surprise.

100 years ago, telephones were scarce, TVs not invented, and apples just a tasty fruit. Women couldn’t vote, and in many countries, couldn’t even own property, especially if they were married.

But for all the technological and political change the world has seen in the past century, the single most powerful economic change has not been caused by technology or the rise of developing nations. It’s been created by women.

Over the past two decades, “women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have either new technology or…China or India,” wrote the Economist in 2006. Today, the average American family has two cars, many TVs and countless technological toys. We couldn’t afford half those luxuries without the power of the working women.

And yet, it still astonishes me how invisible this massive change seems. In the U.S, we take for granted that women work—but we don’t consider child care a tax-deductible business expense. We know that women work harder and longer than men, when you count all that cooking, cleaning and laundry—but most poor people in the U.S. (and globally) are women. We see a few women at the top of corporations and many in the middle, but most women still earn just 77 cents for every dollar a man does in a similar job, even when controlling for education and experience.

In short, although women’s economic power has grown enormously, we often don’t take notice. Why? Because, to date, little of that economic power has translated into social or political influence. We’re earning money, but it still feels like a man’s world. This is especially true in the United States, which lags far behind other nations on global indices of gender equality. Women are 20% of elected officials, 11% of business leaders, just 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs, and only minor figures in the media that covers them — “female bylines at major magazines are still outnumbered by seven to one”, write Newsweek’s Jessica Bennett, Jesse Ellison and Sarah Ball.

But all that’s finally starting to change. After decades of building up our earning power, hoarding our economic force, we’re about to spend our capital. Slowly at first, but with increasing speed, women are unleashing their influence on the world. Maybe it’s by having dad pick up the kids, maybe it’s by making a microloan to a woman half a world away, but gradually, small changes are accumulating, like a thousand water drops seeping, creeping, eroding a mighty mountain. Together, we’re reshaping our world from a man’s world to, eventually, a partnership society that, one day, will work as well for women as men.

My co-author, Christine Larson, and I started following those changes in our book INFLUENCE: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better, which Hyperion publishes this May. But things are changing far faster than any book can follow, especially given the long lead time of the publishing industry.

So, we’re going to track those changes here, minute by minute, showing how women are starting to use their influence to change the world.

Please help me. I want to know how you’re using your economic influence—to educate your daughter, to reinvent the division of labor in your house or at your company, to help other people around the world.

Last night, I went to the gym. I almost didn’t feel like I had a choice. The non-stop rain here in the Bay Area is getting to my mood. Sorry, but I grew up in the Phoenix area. Still have desert blood in me. So when the clouds hang low, dark, and gloomy, I find it harder to stay upbeat. Getting my endorphins pumping gives me a boost of positive energy for at least 8 hours.

I heard the rain pick up at about 5:40 pm, and knew I needed to dash to my car to make the 6 pm spin class. With no traffic, the drive takes me 10 minutes, but in rush hour, it can be 15, and even 20 with bad weather. So I grabbed my backpack, filled it with biking shorts, a tank top, and a pair of socks, and figured I’d change in the dressing room.

Because the spin room holds only 20 bikes, you have to grab a number if you want a bike. I arrived and grabbed number 20. Whew. I’d made it. I was safe.

I changed my clothes, and then went to grab my running shoes (I still haven’t bought biking shoes, the clip in kind, despite some advice that I’d get more out of the class). “Where are my sneakers?” Hmm…oh…crap!

In my rush to get out of the house, I neglected to bring appropriate shoes. No, I was not going to try to bike in a pair of knee-high boots. Argh! My blood pressure started to rise. Just then, my friend Catherine walked up. She was leaving the gym. She wondered why I looked so steamed. I had not been in the sauna — the flush on my face was the tell-tale sign of anger. Catherine told me she would have given me her running shoes to wear, but she had been swimming and didn’t have any. I laughed at the thought. My shoe size is 4 1/2, but I can wear a 5. Hers is 8. Hmmm….

“Hey, why don’t you borrow my shoes?” came a voice moving around the corner. A very gracious woman, Michelene, offered her size 6 Sauconys. “You can cycle in these.” I realized I didn’t need perfect fitting shoes for pedaling, especially with the toe cages on the bike. I couldn’t believe her offer. My feet don’t get that smelly (well, the scent is just perfume to me…yeah, right…), but I was just incredulous. Michelene was firm and supportive, “I know how hard it is to not work out. Please, borrow these. You can leave them at the front desk and I’ll get them tomorrow night.”

“Wow, wow, thank you. OK, yes, having some shoes for the bike would let me get my sanity back. What can I do to thank you?” I asked.

“Just pay it forward.”

I think I had the most idyllic spin class, ever. I was high as a kite, fueled by the generosity of a stranger. I joined my gym because I found it more like a community, not just a place to sweat. Michelene proved to me that community works. She must know something about being a team player. I asked her for her business card so I could be in touch and thank her, and it turns out that she’s the Director of Sales & Finance for Parties That Cook. I was floored. I know about her amazing company. One of my clients has been dabbling in culinary explorations, and I suggested she check out Parties That Cook, which puts on corporate team building cooking events — they cook up camaraderie!

But I digress.

When I finished the spin class, I changed clothes and went to the front desk, “I have a very important favor to ask of you,” I told Julie, the assistant who manages the guests. After conveying what had happened, and how important that it was that the shoes stay at the front desk until Michelene picked them up, rather than going to the lost and found bin. Julie beamed and said, “You made my day with that story. I’ll call Michelene and let her know, right now, that her shoes are safe. That’s so generous of her. Wow, that’s really incredible.”

I know. I feel it in every bone in my body, every inch of my tissue. My heart is uplifted and is pumping much more smoothly. My head is clear.

Thank you, Michelene, for your kind spirit. You made my day.

Yes, I’ll happily pay it forward. And remind my dear readers to do so, too.

Hoping you’ll help someone else step up and make their best moves,
Dr. Susan Bernstein
Life/Work Transition Expert
www.WorkFromWithin.com

I admire the people who come to the workshops I facilitate, like the Crafting Careers That Truly Fit workshop that I’m teaching at the relaxing Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California from January 15 to 17, 2010. It takes courage to face your frustrations with work that doesn’t fit, bravery to get clear about what you want instead, and faith to pursue a new direction. And yet that’s the space that I hold for people, to be able to have a breakthrough, to release work that no longer works, and to truly embrace a new, more inspiring trajectory. I love doing it…and it gets results.

So, what about those results? What happens for people when they go through a workshop like Crafting Careers That Truly Fit? Well, let me share with you a note that I received very recently from a participant in the October 2009 offering of that workshop.

“Dear Susan,

I wanted to let you know that I had a great experience at your workshop and am so glad I went.

Being unappreciated, overworked and underpaid is draining and discouraging and I was at a real low point in my confidence and self worth.

I had a couple of interesting epiphanies during the workshop, but doing one of them in particular not only gave me back my sense of self but completely surprised and delighted me. I never realized or I guess acknowledged my own skills, talents and accomplishments and I couldn’t believe how many I had.  So many things that I contribute and am great at. The experience filled my heart with light and pride. I walked away with the realization that I felt/feel really good about myself and my abilities deep in my heart and not being acknowledged or appreciated at work doesn’t change that.

Real, true internal validation in the purest sense is priceless.

It was also really recharging for me to be around you and all the amazing people in the workshop and spend time focusing on myself.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

This note warms my heart. I am so, so, so happy for the participant who wrote it. It’s true that “being unappreciated, overworked and underpaid is draining and discouraging,” and yet people settle for mediocre working situations all the time. It does take energy and effort to move out of these situations. The Crafting Careers That Truly Fit workshop is designed to:

• Help you not only become aware of what’s not working — but to transform those elements into what you truly desire.
• Give the opportunity to discover how to move from a draining career to an energizing career, and you’ll get directionally clearer on what that career might be
• Bring together your skills, talents, and abilities to form new possibilities for work
• Redefine work in a way that’s truly meaningful, uplifting, and actionable
• Get you unstuck and moving in a direction that truly fits for you

I’d love to have YOU (yes, you!) join this workshop. If you have questions, please feel free to email me at Info @ WorkFromWithin.com or contact me through the Work from Within website.

And, as a early-bird special bonus for you – if you register with Esalen for this workshop before January 1, 2010, I’ll give you a free coaching session and a deck of the Get A Move On! cards, worth over $250! Be sure to read the details of this offer, and contact Esalen (or call them at 831-667-3000) to sign up for the workshop TODAY! Take action now, so that you ensure your space. It’s a great way to start off 2010 with a new confidence about your career, your self-esteem, and your future.

Come join us & craft work that truly fits YOU!
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Life/Work Transition Expert
www.WorkFromWithin.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we move towards the Winter Solstice, and the hours of sunlight grow shorter and shorter, this is a great time of year to turn inward and notice the people and circumstances for which we are most grateful.

I encourage you to express gratitude and thanksgiving to at least three people this week…and notice how you feel inside.  What emotions do you feel? How do you feel in your body? Perhaps you will feel love arising…not necessarily mushy, sentimental love, but a more universal feeling.

Pay close attention those positive feelings and sensations. Savor them. And then set an intention to spread those good feelings to your work. You might imagine a that the positive energy is like a mist and it spreads gently, touching any element of your life that needs to come into the light, some situation or relationship that is calling out for greater meaning and fulfillment. Then, exhale, and release the outcome. You might write down any insights or “aha’s” in a journal, and track what happens.

When you transform your feelings about a difficult issue or relationship, you “work from within” to regain your sense of impact. Instead of feeling so stuck, focusing on any positive aspect, even if it seems teeny, helps you to feel better and open up new possibilities. While you may not get exactly the outcome you expect, practice being grateful (even to the person or situation for being an extremely challenging teacher) and you are very likely to generate new choices. You fuel positive change with positive energy.

Your emotions and sensations are novel and original in each moment. So by allowing yourself to focus on positive aspects of in any moment, and feeling and sensing our own well-being, we transform our brains so that new neural pathways are created, instead of being “stuck in a rut.”

Maybe, just maybe, these suggestions will allow you to experience what the poet Khalil Gibran said of work…“Work is love, made visible.”

I’d love to hear how this works for you! Drop me at line at Info@WorkFromWithin.com

Happy Thanksgiving!
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Life/Work Transition Expert
www.WorkFromWithin.com

PS – If you’d like to get out of a rut about your career, I invite you to read about the January 15 – 17, 2010 workshop I’m teaching at the Esalen Institute.

Just found this quote today, from Marcus Aurelius, last of the Five Good Emperors of the Roman Empire: 

That sums up how I feel about life coming together when you work from within.  The optimal way to navigate change and chaos, as I see and feel it, is from within. Rely on yourself, on your inner wisdom.  And, as the sage Marcus Aurelius advised, "dig still deeper & deeper" to touch that innate, embodied intelligence.

May you find hope as you look within,
Susan

Susan Bernstein, MBA PhD
Coach, Author, Speaker
www.WorkFromWithin.com
It all comes together when you work from within

“I got a job!”

I love those words. Especially because I’m so sick of hearing all the employment reports that are filled with gloom and doom. Words and phrases like “crisis,” and “massive layoffs,” and “unprecedented increase in unemployment” are more than a downer.  They induce hopelessness and defeat.

So, out of my utter frustration, and because I am bound and determined to be a ray of hope for people in their job search, I am taking a stand for the positive. It’s time to celebrate.  It’s time to share the good news.  We all need some encouragement!

I ask you, if you have gotten a job, or if you know someone who’s gotten a job, to please post your story (as a comment) here.  Include your name and the job you got.  And how you feel to have your new job.

By posting that “I got a job” and sharing a little bit about it, not only will you be able to brag, you’ll be able to help job seekers to know that it’s still quite possible to get a job.

So, please do share your “I got a job!” stories here.  Your success can have a positive impact on a lot of people.

Thanks!
Susan

Susan Bernstein, MBA PhD
Coach I Author I Speaker
Work from Within, LLC
www.WorkFromWithin.com
It all comes together when you work from within